Research Methods in Information Science/Usability and user experience studies

Diary studies There are two types of diary studies: Elicitation studies, where participants capture media that are then used as prompts for discussion in interviews. The method is a way to trigger the participant’s memory. Feedback studies, where participants answer predefined questions about events. This is a way of getting immediate answers from the participants.Carter and Mankoff (2005). When participants do the capturing: the role of media in diary studies. CHI '05 Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems. Advantages They allow: collecting longitudinal and temporal information; reporting events and experiences in context; determining the antecedents, correlations, and consequences of daily experiences. Limitations Diary studies might generate inaccurate recall, especially if using the elicitation type of diary studies. Interpreting the expressed emotions and experiences is highly challenging. It can require special training in psychology, especially when participants record their experiences in multiple formats (e.g. text and pictures).Isomursu Minna Tähti Marika Väinämö Soili Kuutti Kari Experimental evaluation of five methods for collecting emotions in field settings with mobile applications International Journal of Human-Computer Studies April 2007 65 4 404–418 10.1016/j.ijhcs.2006.11.007 Low control User participation tends to decline, especially without investigator involvement.Palen Leysia Salzman Marilyn Voice-Mail Diary Studies for Naturalistic Data Capture under Mobile Conditions Computer supported cooperative work 2002 87-95 Risk of disturbing the action. The instrument (e.g. paper format diary) is often disconnected from the evaluated application (e.g. a smartphone app). This leads to situations in which the instrument is unavailable and the user cannot record their experiences. Think aloud protocol Walkthroughs Cognitive walkthroughs Pluralistic walkthroughs Remote usability testing References